Avoiding A Need
by kbecks41319
Summary: Meredith is avoiding a need and all her friends are trying to get her to confront it. Will she finally listen? Set in season 4ish.


**A/N:** I ship Meredith with almost everyone, except Derek. Hmph. I own nothing and I hope you enjoy :) Reviews are always welcomed!

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><p>It's one of those.. long, drawn out, needing kind of things. It's there and no matter how much alcohol she pours into her system it won't get out. Cause she's tried (God, has she tried) with every different alcohol Joe has in the bar and even went down to the local liquor store. She stayed at the hospital for almost a week before Bailey kicked her out and she even hid out in a room at the Archfield (even though she had her own house with her own bed and her own clothes and her own bath..). When she took it as far as hiding out at Cristina and Callie's apartment, she was finally forced to admit she had a problem.<p>

"You're avoiding him," Cristina accused as she plopped down on the couch opposite of her, bowl of popcorn in hand.

"Am not," Meredith shrugged. "I just don't wanna go home."

"Because he's there."

"No. Because.. I just don't, okay?" She rubbed the side of her face, pushing play on the remote before waiting for the movie to start.

"You only take shifts that you know he won't be on. You only go home when you know he's not there. You rented a room in the Archfield, for Christ's Sake, for almost a month when his hours were cut back because he punched that dude. When you're forced to take shifts that you know he's on, you bribe whatever Attending with coffee to keep him away from your patients." Cristina paused to stuff some popcorn in his mouth, munching for a moment before pointing her finger at her friend. "You are avoiding him."

"I'm no-"

"And plus you're drinking alcohol like a fish drinks water and I've actually had to hide half of my stash from you."

"That's where the tequila went," she muttered under her breath before licking her lips. "Look, I'm not avoiding him.. I just.. rather not be around him right now."

"Avoiding," Cristina reiterated.

"Shut up," the blond groaned as she tossed her pillow at her friend, sinking back into the couch to focus on the movie and ignore Cristina for the time being. She'd deal with her feelings and what not later.

**x0x**

"You know she's right," Callie said as she grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge, nodding her head towards Cristina who is passed out on the couch.

Meredith glanced up from her drink, tequila blurring her vision as she tried to ignore the urge to run to the bathroom and empty everything that she'd ate in the past two hours.

"Not you too," she groaned before dropping her head to the counter.

"Picking you up off the floor or tripping over you every time you're here is getting old." The Latina walked around the counter, taking the bottle of tequila away and tucking it against her side.

"That has nothing to do with him." She shook her head, groaning a moment later as everything around her twirled and the urge to throw up surfaced again.

"It has everything to do with him, Grey. Whether or not you want to admit that is on you." Callie shrugged before heading for her room, tequila bottle still tucked into her side. "But if you don't deal with it soon, it's only going to get worse."

Meredith simply waved her hand over her head, not even bothering to try and pick her head up off the counter. She didn't want to deal with the things she was feeling, or who she was feeling them for. She just wanted to find a nice comfortable place to pass out and stay there until she had to go to the hospital for her shift tomorrow.

**x0x**

"Could you please stop avoiding him and just come home?" Izzie stomped her foot, ignoring the look their patient gave her as she finished checking vitals. "He's moping around the house like a scorned puppy which is really just him sulking around the house and snapping at everyone about everything."

Meredith rolled her eyes, scribbling something on the chart she was holding before shooting Izzie a look as they finished with their current patient.

"Iz, not now." She shook her head, heading to the next room that they were supposed to be checking on.

"Yes, now." The bubbly blond stomped her foot as she grabbed her friend's arm, turning her around. "Now because you haven't been home in a week. Now because he's drank so much that I'm not sure what's worse, the smell of alcohol or throw up. Now because if I have to watch you two during another surgery again I may just have to jump the next guy that walks by."

"Tension you could cut with a damn knife," George muttered as he came to stand beside them, merely glancing in Meredith direction before focusing on his chart. "I saw Sloan drag Callie into an on-call room after the surgery."

"Isn't that a little weird?" Meredith frowned, jumping at anything to put the conversation off of her and onto anyone else.

"Not really," George shrugged as he closed his chart and looked up finally. "We both agreed that we only jumped into the marriage because of my dad dying. The divorce was on good terms and we're still friends."

"At least you didn't run her off to New York," she chuckled as she remembered Derek explaining that he couldn't stay in Seattle an deal with everything, that he was going back to New York to work things out with Addison. Last she had heard, they had nixed the New York idea and headed for LA.

"Totally different situations," Izzie pointed out before sighing. "Quit changing the subject. The avoiding has to stop, Meredith, or I'm going to be sent to jail for murder and quite possibly jumping the next man I see after another one of those kind of surgeries."

"I'm not avoiding him, Iz, I just.. I have nothing to say to him." She shrugged and opened the door to their next patient, effectively cutting their conversation short.

**x0x**

"I've been avoiding you," Meredith sighed as she cornered Alex in the NICU, glancing up at him. "I've tried drowning you out with alcohol and I've tried staying at the hospital and working until I dropped. I tried staying at the Archfield. And now I'm living with Callie and Cristina, the wonder twins, who won't let me sleep curled up to their toilet and refuse to carry me to bed when I pass out on the kitchen floor. I've been avoiding you because these feelings that I'm feeling won't go away and I don't know what to do about them."

She finally stopped rambling, taking a deep breath as she studied the man before her. He was looking at her like she had quite possibly lost her mind (it was possible, after all..) and before she knew what was happening, he had her turned around and pinned up against the wall. The kiss was one of those long, drawn out, needing kind of things.. Like it would never end and possibly end too soon. The need for air and one of the baby monitors going off brings them up for air, both of them staring at each other.

It's quiet for a few moments before Alex brushes her hair out of her face, leaning in to press a more gentle kiss against her lips before mumbling. "It's time to come back home."


End file.
